"Mr. STAFFORD KING, "Criminal Intelligence Department." He looked from the card to Pinto, then: "Show him in." CHAPTER XI THE COLONEL AT SCOTLAND YARD The two men had not met since they had parted at the door of the North Lambeth Police Court, and there was in Colonel Boundary's smile something of forgiveness and gentle reproach. "Well, Mr. King," he said, "come in, come in, won't you?" He offered his hand to the other, but Stafford apparently did not see it. "No malice, I trust, Mr. King?" said the colonel genially. "You know my friend Mr. Silva? A business associate of mine, a director of several of my companies." "I know him all right," said Stafford and added, "I hope to know him better." Pinto recognised the underlying sense of the words, but not a muscle of his face moved. For Stafford King the hatred with which he regarded the law lost its personal character. This man was something more than a thief-taker and a tracker of criminals. Pinto chose to regard him as the close friend of Maisie White, and as such, his rival. "And to what are we indebted for this visit?" asked the bland colonel. "The chief wants to see you." "The chief?" "Sir Stanley Belcom. Being the chief of our department I should have thought you had heard of him." "Sir Stanley Belcom," repeated the other; "why, of course, I know Sir Stanley by repute. May I ask what he wants to see me about? And how is my young friend--er--Miss White?" asked the colonel. "When I saw her last," replied Stafford steadily, "she was looking pretty well, so far as I could tell." "Indeed!" said the colonel politely. "I have a considerable interest in the welfare of Miss White. May I ask when you saw her? "Last night," replied Stafford. "She was standing at the door of her apartments in Doughty Street, having a little talk with your friend," he nodded to Pinto, and Pinto started; "also," said the cheerful Stafford, "another mutual friend of ours, Mr. Crewe, was within hailing distance, unless I am greatly mistaken." "So you were watching, eh?" burst out Pinto "I thought after the lesson you had a couple of weeks ago, you'd have----" "Let me carry on this conversation, if you don't mind," said the colonel, and the fury in his eyes silenced the Portuguese. "We have agreed to let bygones be bygones, Mr. King, and I am sure it is only his excessive zeal on my behalf that induced our friend to be so indiscreet as to refer to the unpleasant happenings--which we will allow to pass from our memories." So the girl was being watched. That made things rather more difficult than he had imagined. Nevertheless, he anticipated no supreme obstacle to the actual abduction. His plans had been made that morning, when he saw in the columns of the daily newspaper a four-line advertisement which, to a large extent, had cleared away the greatest of his difficulties.